(clicks tongue)
I don't know what I'd be doing now,
if you weren't there for me when I needed you.
(soft instrumental music)
Michael, thanks for having me here, man.
And um, I'm glad to be part of this,
but first question, really?
Why? Why'd you choose me?
In like, vital moments in my life
you've been there, whether or not
you knew to be there or not.
Like, just by whether or not
I even respond or how I respond.
You just know, all right something's up.
It's that, that type of thing
that has made you, like, the most important
friend in my life.
You overcame a lot,
your freshman year of college, I can confirm.
Can you share just more about that to everyone,
your mental health journey?
One day, you remember, when uh,
cause you asked me what happened that day.
I went to school and then within 10 minutes,
I was like, I can't do this.
Oh yeah. You left early.
Uh huh.
And I, I called my parents and they,
they brought me home, and I ended up like crying
for two hours and they,
they ended up getting me a therapist then,
and I got diagnosed with depression.
I talked to y'all and y'all were like,
yeah, we could tell.
And when I got to college and...
I, uh, started here and everything.
I lived by myself, that made things
a little bit more difficult.
And eventually I got to the point where I felt
so isolated and stuff,
especially from my family, that I,
that I came really close to killing myself.
But, I snapped out of it, like last second.
(soft music)
(bird whistles)
The day after I was like, I need to go get help.
So I went to ASU counseling.
And counseling was like,
you might have bipolar disorder,
you should go see a psychiatrist. So I did.
And I got diagnosed with bipolar, too.
After that, like after I got diagnosed and stuff,
like, that was rough.
For about 15 minutes I was just like, okay.
And then after that I was crying,
cause I was like, dang, I don't want this.
It took almost a year and a half before, like,
I made real, significant, measurable progress.
Aside from friends,
cause I know we had, like, casual
conversations about this,
but were there any, like,
professors that kind of helped you out?
Or just, like —?
From day to day, like obviously I was there
as much as I can, same with the boys,
but there are days that we can't be there for you.
So were there any days that like the professors
kind of like, made you happy,
or like made your day feel good or welcomed?
Every single one of my film professors
has in some way, like, made my day
a little bit better.
When I found out I had bipolar disorder,
I knew the first person I talked to about it,
to figure out what should I do,
was this professor.
They're, they uh,
they don't teach my major, funny enough.
But they uh,
they were there for me when I had
a bunch of questions to ask about it.
And they made me feel a lot better about the
diagnosis and made me feel a lot more comfortable.
They've all been understanding,
and I really appreciate that from them.
So if there's, like, other students that
kind of have the same experience as you,
or, like, is probably depressed,
has, like, manic episodes, bipolar disorder,
like any of sort of that.
Do you have any advice for them, really?
Yeah.
The obvious advice is go get help.
Like it's, it's not weak to go get help.
It's actually strong to admit that you need help.
Ah.
That's something that honestly,
I wish I knew before all this stuff
started happening, cause you know
how I was really reluctant to even talk
to people about it at first.
I mean, yeah,
it's a big pill to swallow.
Of course, you're never, like,
alone in anything that you go through, really.
There's always people who care about you,
even if you don't realize it.
What is a true friend to you?
How do you define a true friend?
Everybody is their own individual person.
I think the most important thing to look for
in a friend is more so,
just like an understanding of
just each other's perspectives
and life situation.
Going back onto that perspective thing.
What do you mean?
Like, upbringings.
So, for you and me,
that's like growing up in —
growing up as people of color in Arizona.
(laughs)
It's, it's interesting compared to,
like, how my,
my family who's from Detroit, grew up.
It really just changed the way I look at things.
Cause it made me think, okay,
what are common problems that everybody faces?
And no matter what, sorry,
no matter what a lot of people face,
like feeling lonely,
wanting to keep the people around them close.
And that's what I really like to depict in film.
I want to make sure that people are
constantly thinking about how we're all
not really that different.
What does that value of inclusion mean to you,
and have you felt that here at ASU?
Honestly, yeah.
There are a lot of people where
I don't know if it's just,
like, our personalities match or anything,
but like, I kind of just went in, said hi,
and now I have like friend groups.
Like, I was able to do that with your crew.
I had never felt left out.
I think just them being very welcome.
I've never met someone where I'm just like, wow,
they're just shutting me out or anything.
Like I got to know and meet everyone.
Whether we're friends or not, I got to know,
meet and understand them.
So it made things a lot easier for me.
With how long we’ve been friends,
like, how have you seen me change?
Have you seen me grow?
I would say your openness
to being vulnerable
has changed and grown a lot.
I think it was just you kind of saying, like,
I want to figure this out on my own.
I don't need, like, this extra help.
I can do this.
It's on me. I can do this.
And then you just being open to be like,
okay, I need help.
Also, if I had any trouble, just like,
mentally like,
hey, I'm not like feeling the best,
or I'm feeling like, very angry.
You're just like, hey, talk it out.
Whatever. Like, let it out.
I'm here for you.
I'm not going to take any offense if you say
anything bad or inconsiderate,
cause it's like, I understand
where you're coming from.
So your just opening that pathway to yourself,
I'd say you've grown quite a bit,
minus the height.
(laughs)
(gentle music)